Long-Term Report: Are SUVs the ultimate family car?

There’s a reason that most families you see driving around the UK are riding high in an SUV – and that’s because they’re just really rather practical.

We’ve recently had a new addition to the household which means there are now two little ones in ISOFIX car seats in the back.

When we’re travelling anywhere as a family, that means my teenage daughter gets rather unfortunately squished in the middle of the two youngest.

Families out there will know how cramped the rear seats can get when an ISOFIX child car seat is attached to the two outer chairs in the back of a car. The middle seat becomes more of a scaffold board-sized pew that’s not very comfortable for long journeys.

This seven-seat Audi Q7 has solved a lot of moaning. Having a third row of seats that can flip up at the press of a button has made a world of difference. While the rearmost row is a little cramped for a teenager, it’s still positively business class compared to the middle perch.

This new Q7 arrived at the start of the year and replaced an SQ7 e-tron which I’d battled with for a year. Going back to petrol has been a refreshing change after a year with an electric car.

The Q7 has been around some time now but it makes for an incredibly luxurious and practical family car. The boot is huge with the third row of seats folded down, and still pretty spacious with them up.

Our first adventure in the Audi was across France to the Alps. It coped with six people and their luggage thanks to a whopping great top box. I was amazed at just how much we managed to cram into the car and still travel in comfort on the 1,500-mile round trip.

This Q7 has the wonderfully smooth 3.0-litre V6 petrol engine. It’s a fantastic engine that wafts the luxury off roader along. When pushed, it can hit 60mph in 5.6 seconds and even go on to a top speed of 155mph.

Over in France, where the motorways are smooth and the speed limit’s 80mph, the Q7 was supremely comfortable. The seats – which massage, cool and heat, depending on what takes your fancy – are incredible, the multimedia system easy to use and everything else just so relaxing.

Wind noise, even with the huge top box in place, wasn’t intrusive and the whole car feels tank-like in its solidity. I’m particularly pleased with the spec too. It took a long time to make the decision to go all black, both inside and out (£795 option), but I think it looks fantastic as a result.

The specification is top-end – which you’d expect for a car with a retail price of £95,000. The panoramic sunroof is joyful (when the roofbox isn’t in place), I love the 360-degree cameras that help you park, and it’s so effortlessly easy to drive. It seems to make every journey so relaxing.

It’s not been all plain sailing, though. In the snowy French Alps the car picked up some horrendous salt streaks which were nearly impossible to get off. In the end I had to consult the experts at Autoglym who gave me some special solution to dissolve it and get it off.

The speakers also have a habit of cutting out occasionally. At first, I thought it was DAB radio being awkward, but it’s doing it on Spotify too. Audi is picking it up soon to whip off the winter tyres and take away the roofbox, so I’ll ask them to have a look at it too and report back how they get on.

I’ve been absolutely smitten with the Audi ever since picking it up from Portsmouth Audi where their sales executive Rebecca Oglesby showed me around the car. I was particularly pleased to see Audi has reconfigured the favourite button on the steering wheel to allow you to do one thing easily in the car – I instantly opted for it to turn off the annoying speed limit alerts which has improved my life immensely.

SUVs might get a bad rap, but for families like mine they make sense. Everyone seems happier when on a car journey in the Q7 and if you’ve ever travelled anywhere with kids in the car you’ll know that is a very rare commodity. Let’s hope it lasts.